Was prime Henry Cejudo at the same DJ level?

[checktheknuckles]

One of those dubious decisons you just KNEW Dana was behind. As soon as MM lost they traded him to One Championship for Ben fucking Askren

And people act like the judges aren't controlled by the UFC.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Cejudo is wildly overrated IMHO. He came into MMA with a ton of hype from his legitimately impressive wrestling credentials but as we've seen time and time again, great credentials don't always translate into MMA.

He was awkward, didn't seem dedicated to learn/improve, struggled with weight, and was essentially gifted a title shot because he sounded like a much more credible opponent than he actually was at the time (and the division was ridiculously cleaned out).

The Joseph Benavidez fight was his 1st legitimately impressive performance where he seemingly improved in leaps and bounds (lost a controversial decision) but still, few gave him a chance when he got his rematch against Demetrius. They were wrong and he exceeded expectations in a very competitive fight.

After this, he is matched up with TJ Dillashaw in the fight that made him the grossly overrated figure he is today. While the win was legitimate, it was deceiving and told us very little IMHO. Cejudo never had a performance like this before and never did again and it was against an extremely depleated Bantamweight who made the cut for the first time. Could Cejudo have beaten TJ over 5 rounds in a rematch? Absolutely... but I do not put much weight into this 32 second outlier when comparing Cejudo to other established greats.

Now riding all of the hype in the world, Cejudo goes up to Bantamweight and stops a chinny guy who proceeded to get knocked out in 7 of his next 8 fights. After this, he stops Cruz who was 1) fighting on short notice and 2) hadn't fought in 3 and a half years. Again, while this name sounds impressive on paper, was this really some all time great win?

I'm not saying Cejudo is a bum or not a skilled fighter but I find it pretty laughable to see him ranked in the top 20 best fighters EVER let alone the top 10 considering he was on top for like 2 years and had less than a handful of impressive performances. He had far more potential than actual accomplishment in MMA and he had nowhere near the impressive career as DJ.

TL/DR: Cejudo is nowhere near the same level as DJ in the all time standings

He lost the rematch to DJ, but as usual the judges seemingly always give the win to the guy the UFC wants/needs to win….what a coincidence that seems to repeat itself in infinite variations over the years (Suga over Yan, Paddy over Gordon, and so on).

 

[Danespina]

As a Olympic wrestler, all of a sudden his striking became sharp too. The improvements were really notable. Cejudo got damn good.

 

[Fact Checker]

Yep, but not always the winner in a fight defines who is the best. What makes the comparision difficult is the difference in the amount of fights the two had at their peak

Cejudo went on knock out TJ, capture the BW belt against Moraes who was a beast at the time, and defend against Dom (KO victory). I’d say that’s far better competition than MM ever beat.

 

[djacobox372]

No, that fight was a toss up and MM was losing interest in competing in the UFC. When he fought a focused MM he got his ass handed to him.

 

[djacobox372]

Cejudo went on knock out TJ, capture the BW belt against Moraes who was a beast at the time, and defend against Dom (KO victory). I’d say that’s far better competition than MM ever beat.

MM beat Cejudo, arguably twice.

So there's that.

 

[Blastbeat]

Nah. Cejudo did the best vs MM until Moraes knocked him out though so Cejudo does deserve credit.

 

[Mind Mine]

Henry is a great fighter but GOATY Mouse has to be mentioned with the greatest ever. Cormier vs Cejudo is an interesting career deep dive

 

[Paolo Delutis]

I just wached DJ x Cejudo II recently and seemed to me Cejudo reached the same, if not higher, level than Might Mouse

DM had a better bjj but not enough to submt Cejudo. In wrestling Henry was cleary superior and in striking the difference was miminum. Both had speed, power and IQ pretty similar

What? ...

DJ beat him twice... convincingly... The second fights decision was absolute bullshit lol ...DJ was already traded before that fight probably